A 27-year-old man has been arrested in Bengaluru for illegally operating an Instagram handle that shared unknown and unauthorised photographs and videos of women commuters on the city’s Metro network. The accused, whose name is Diganth, comes from Hassan in Karnataka and was living in the Thigalarapalya area of Bengaluru. His arrest on Friday was followed by a First Information Report (FIR) registered on Wednesday.
Sources have confirmed that Diganth is believed to be the person who is behind the controversial Instagram account, ‘@metro_chicks’. Lokesh B Jagalasar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), provided initial details about the case, stating, “The preliminary information we have is that he is 27 years old and works in the accounts department of a private company in the Murugeshpalya area. He was clicking the photos and filming videos while he was on his way to and from work.”
Police officials are now actively questioning Diganth to get to know the platforms he was using for uploading the illicit content and whether he ever got any financial compensation for these activities. A key aspect of the ongoing investigation is to establish if Diganth acted alone or if he was part of a larger team involved in this act.
The Instagram account, ‘@metro_chicks’, had a number of followers, which was nearly over 5,000 followers and featured numerous photos and videos of women commuters within Metro trains and on platforms. Crucially, police have indicated that none of the women depicted appeared to be aware that they were being photographed or filmed. The account was brought to the attention of authorities after a concerned user on X (formerly Twitter) flagged the profile and urged the Bengaluru Police to take immediate action. Following the complaint and the registration of the FIR, all content on the account was swiftly deleted, and the Instagram profile was subsequently removed from the platform.
